by Michael Bourne
Hi all. Welcome back to installment #3. I’m somewhat better organised this month so the time between blogs is a little closer. Thanks to all that dropped by and read all about Lyndsay and mine upcoming honeymoon, now less than 4 months away. Thanks to everyone who left kind messages, your sentiments are much appreciated.
So where were we…
In the first installment we decided on a destination for our honeymoon. In the second installment we picked a place to stay in. The one big question that we have been repeatedly asked by friends and family alike regarding our ‘honeymoon without the kids’ is, “what is happening with the kids whilst we are away?”
So, for installment #3 … let’s talk about the kids. Where are we leaving them? Who are we leaving them with? And the big question: How can you leave them for 2 weeks?
As far as leaving the kids at home while we go to Thailand for 12 days, we are blessed that we have family support that are helping us out immensely by taking care of our “precious little angels”. And that family support isn’t just there for those two weeks in October; they have been there to help us out so that Lyndsay and I can both work to earn enough money to have the wedding and honeymoon that we want. So to my mum Carol, Lyndsay’s mum Sue, and Lyndsay’s grandmother Lily, a huge thankyou for all of your help in babysitting in the past, and our eternal gratitude in allowing us to go on our honeymoon knowing that our kids are in good hands so we can relax and enjoy our time away.
So the kids will be spending the 2 weeks we are away between Nana’s, either at Kincumber with my mum during the week or at our house with Sue coming up on the weekends. Lily is there to help out when the little monsters become too much for one person to handle. Brayden and Laycie will be returning to school from school holidays the day after we leave, so Monday to Friday during the day Caleb (the monster) will be the only handful someone has to deal with. Putting together a schedule so that we can organise 3 or 4 people to look after the kids was challenging but with our family support it has all come together in the end. So all in all we have our 3 little angels being cared for by loving family members who will take care of our kids as we would in our absence. Thank god for that!
Well that covers the “where” and the “who”, the biggest question has been the “how”. As much as I can see Lyndsay being a blubbering mess on the way down the F3 to the airport for leaving the kids behind, she is of the same mind as me when it comes to the childless honeymoon. We have done things a little backwards.. Together for 7 years, 3 kids between us etc… and now getting married. We work hard to provide for our family, like all parents do, and we also make plenty of sacrifices for ourselves to spoil the kids at times. Sometimes as parents you tend to forget about yourselves, both as individuals and as a couple, so you can give the kids the best you can. This is our one chance for a long time that we as a couple can spoil ourselves as adults, people, individuals, partners… everything but parents. I mentioned in the previous blog about a little thing like being able to swim together, instead of one of us having to watch the kids. A family member of ours recently went on their honeymoon with their child, and they weren’t able to do some adult things together as they had no one to look after their child for them. That was their choice and I have no qualms about that, but I think a little differently, and my idea of a honeymoon is being able to spend quality time with my new wife doing things together without the kids around.
A couple of the more difficult issues we have had in organising this kid free honeymoon has been the impending separation anxiety that we will have from the kids, and the kids from us. Leaving them behind will be a both easy and difficult at the same time. Not being there for them when they call out “dad” in the middle of the night will be both heart wrenching and blissful for the short space of time. The other difficult issue has been explaining to Laycie that she was not going to Thailand like she was telling everyone. We have been working on Laycie for a few months now and I think we have got it all sorted, as long as we bring home lots of presents for her and her brothers she is ok with not going.
So this trip is all about spoiling ourselves. We have promised the kids lots of presents when we come home. And it goes without saying that the next big holiday we go on will be a family holiday.. kids and all. We will just have to knuckle down and work our asses off to save for that one.
So keep on following our story. In the next instalment I will take the opportunity to bag myself out for being the “anal retentive, over organised, holiday planner”. Keep reading and please leave us some comments and feedback.
Cheers.
Michael
Thanks again Michael for your contribution to the website. Are you also going on a family trip and would like to have it documented for your friends and family to follow? Let me know!
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What a fabulous idea to have a honeymoon blog! It might take a little while, but the nerves will wear off and I’m sure you two will have a fabulous to memory to look back in years to come.